He was a man of merit and jurisprudence. Yaʿqūb ibn Sufyān listed him among the trustworthy narrators of Egypt, and Ibn Ḥibbān likewise listed him among the trustworthy narrators. Ibn Khuzaymah’s inclusion of his hadith in his Ṣaḥīḥ indicates that he regarded him as trustworthy, and this is the view that I consider more likely. Thus, the hadith is good. And Allah knows best.

651 — “Doing good is a habit, and doing evil is obstinacy. Whoever Allah intends good for, He grants him understanding of the religion.”

Ibn Mājah recorded it (1/95–96): Hishām ibn ʿAmmār narrated to us; al-Walīd ibn Muslim narrated to us; Marwān ibn Janāḥ narrated to us, from Yūnus ibn Maysarah ibn Ḥalbas, who told him: “I heard Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān narrating from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, that he said…” Then he cited it.

This is a good chain of transmission. Its narrators are trustworthy, apart from Marwān ibn Janāḥ, who is deemed acceptable, as stated in al-Taqrīb, following al-Dāraquṭnī. Ibn Ḥibbān also narrated it in his Ṣaḥīḥ through the route of Hishām ibn ʿAmmār, with precisely the same chain and text, as cited in Mawārid al-Ẓamʾān (82). Ibn ʿAdī likewise recorded it in al-Kāmil (135/2), in the biographical notice of Rūḥ ibn Janāḥ, the brother of Marwān ibn Janāḥ. However, in his version, “Rūḥ ibn Janāḥ” appears in place of “Marwān ibn Janāḥ.” I do not know whether this was an error on the part of the narrators, or whether al-Walīd ibn Muslim narrated it from both brothers, and Hishām narrated it from him—thus narrating it at times from one and at times from the other. And Allah knows best.

Al-Ḍiyāʾ also narrated it in Muwāfaqāt Hishām ibn ʿAmmār (58/2). Al-Quḍāʿī recorded it in Musnad al-Shihāb (3/1) through the route of ʿAmr ibn ʿUthmān, who said: “Al-Walīd ibn Muslim informed us, from Marwān ibn Janāḥ,” with the same report. ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Maqdisī also recorded it in al-ʿIlm (5/2),